Ben Misagga, one of SC Villa’s president emeritus and good friend of mine recently shared his views publicly about the club’s alleged retrogression and mismanagement of the Shs7b UNRA compensation that he thinks is not being put to proper use.
He also shared his thoughts, which were not very pleasant in my view, about the current club’s leadership specifically taking issue with the age of one of the Board members who he thinks cannot drive the Club forward on account of advanced age on top of branding the current Executive as a rubber stamp.
It is sad that Misagga is, with most respect, misinformed about what’s happening at the club at the moment. I have watched almost all Villa’s premier league games for the last four seasons including games that have been played in the current season.
I am not sure when Misagga last watched a Villa game, but I can confirm that I saw him at the club’s final game of 2022/23 season, that Villa lost to URA and ultimately handed the league title to Vipers Soccer Club and the game that Villa beat Nec to clinch the 2023/24 league Title.
It is apparent that some of the views against SC Villa and its current management are arm-chair views that are completely disconnected with the current state of affairs at the club.
It is important that the public is given accurate information. Villa was not paid Shs7b as compensation for the Villa Park training ground. It received a far less sum slightly above Shs3bn that has, by God’s grace, been properly managed by the current president and his executive.
This money is now way above what the club was compensated. It is highly probable that if it was not for the good leadership and business acumen of the president of the club, his executive and the Board of Trustees, this money would be gone by now.
The fact that Ben alleges that Club was paid Shs7b confirms that he at times shoots from the hip and falls short of making proper due diligence as expected of a former club president.
The integrity and constitution of the members of the current Board of Trustees, the sober head of the club president have everything to do with the progress that the Club has made thus far.
While there is still a lot to do, those of us who have watched Villa games this season agree that the team is playing brilliant football and edging closer to where it was two decades back.
This improvement is informed by effort including timely payment of the players wages, recruitment of good technical and medical teams, commitment from players and so many other factors.
At the time the current executive took office, the playing staff had salary arrears of over four (4) months.
The club was indebted to different suppliers in a sum in excess of Shs600m. M/s Lusaka Commodities Ltd, an entity associated with Misagga was among the club’s creditors. It demanded payment from the Club in the sum Shs300m.
This demand was followed up by the executive that requested this company to avail supportive documents for this debt and account details where this payment to the club was channelled. The documents have todate never been delivered. It may be that the club was indebted to Lusaka Commodities.
Unfortunately, this debt could not be verified because it could not be substantiated by the Claimant. With the current management, you will never hear of such debts.
Most of the club fans are aware of the controversy created by some entity incorporated under the name M/s S.C Villa Jogoo (U) Limited. The is an entity that has nothing to do with SC Villa, the football club, save for the name that the two entities share. It has different shareholders exclusive of the club’s membership.
One wonders why SC Villa was coupled with an unknown entity that has actually registered the club’s logo as its trademark under trademark No. UG/T/2016/56500 in class 25.
I need not mention who Villa’s president was at the time this mark was registered but I am certain it was not Hajji Omar Madela. Your guess as to who the president of the club was at the time is as good as mine. This is the mess that the current club president and his executive are dealing with at the moment.
We must admit that had it not been for the astute current management of the club’s affairs, Villa would now be history. The allegation that the current Executive of the Club is a rubber stamp is entirely false.
Like any institution, the club has leaders that drive its affairs. The executive holds regular meetings to discuss matters pertaining to the club.
The president and his executive are collectively responsible for the decisions made at the club. If at all the club’s management is a one- man – show as Ben suggests, you would never have such meetings convened.
My view is that it’s risky being obsessed with spending the Shs3b that was paid to Villa by the government as compensation for its training ground.
The club is satisfactorily settled at East High where its current training ground is located courtesy of the goodwill of the Mandela Group. The club has no income stream at the moment.
The need to create an income stream for the club is top of priority for the current executive as the gate collections from matchdays are meagre and cannot even meet the club’s bills for a day.
If the current expenditure of the club is anything to go by, the Shs3b would now be depleted. On the contrary, the money is still available and earning interest by the day as the management of the club ties up loose ends on the club’s strategy of how to deploy this money.
I appreciate the temptation to spend when money is available. Luckily for Villa, this temptation has been successfully resisted todate. There is a good plan in place on how to deal with this money and this is the least of the club’s worries at the moment.
Focus is now with building the club’s youth teams that can feed into the Senior team. The club is looking at a consistent conveyor belt of genuinely young, talented, educated and disciplined players.
This is corroborated by the club’s partnership with sporting secondary schools and the recent recruitment of a seasoned Serbian youth football instructor in Jelusic Veselin with over 30 years experience.
Jelusic has since taken charge of Villa’s youth teams. Misagga is undoubtedly a good fan of the club and a good man at heart with a passion for the game of football.
He knows very well what it takes to be at the helm of a Football Club in Uganda having previously been a President at Villa and one of the top honchos at Nyamityobola that has since disappeared into oblivion.
Had Misagga’s skillset at management of football finances and affairs at that been exceptional, Nyamityobola would not be where it is todate.
Villa has since taken significant steps forward. This progress is only possible with the sacrifice of some individuals in the leadership of the club that share their hard-earned money to support local footballers which creates employment and a platform for professional careers to these lads.
Let us rally behind individuals like Hajji Omar Mandela, Lawerence Mulindwa and others of the same ilk and encourage them to continue donating to Ugandan Football – not even investing as there is no return on investment in football in this country.